Allura padded behind the boys, tripping over roots and feeling dry leaves tickle between her toes. She'd quickly gone along with the idea of not wearing shoes or boots while hunting, but forgot that her paws were more tender than her teammates.
     Hunk had point; it was his job to scent-track the prey. Today it was to be fayquuin, the huge elk-like deer that roamed the deep forests. Once it was in sight, Keith and Lance would go around and herd it to where they wanted, and then they'd make the kill. This was the dangerous part. Hunk was the only one who was truly large enough to wrestle with the muscular animals. Lance, Pidge and Keith usually served to help exhaust it either by continuing to circle and herd it, or by adding extra weight by hanging onto it for dear life. Keith was fast enough to try and hamstring the animals, but lacked the solid frame to safely dare those hooves. Pidge had neither the speed nor frame, but was skilled in tangling himself around prey's front legs without ending the hunt paralyzed. Allura wondered what role she would get to play.
     Hunk's ears swiveled forward, and she saw Lance and Keith stiffen, obviously excited.
     "What is it?" she whispered, curious, only to have Pidge of all people shush her.
     "Dinner. Get down..."
     Allura crouched down as Lance and Keith locked onto their target and moved in opposite directions. Hunk nodded to her, and she followed him to a good-sized clearing. She could see the castle gleaming in the distance and wondered what Nanny and Coran would think when she returned with the boys from this hunt.
     She was startled from her daydream by a thunder of hooves. The fayquuin buck trumpeted as it burst from the trees, the two animan diving in between his legs. She found it hard to tell who was chasing who, predator or prey. She winced as Keith barely missed a razor-sharp hoof in the spine.
     With a roar, Hunk launched himself at the beast, sinking his claws into its haunches. The thrashing of the baying buck nearly knocked him loose more than once while the others sought an opening around the huge antlers. Allura stood frozen, unsure of what to do, but knowing that this was a far more dangerous situation than any of them could have anticipated.
     It happened unbelievably fast, like something out of a book. The sound of the buck's hooves against Hunk's ribs was a hollow, drum-like thump. The tiger was thrown several feet and landed heavily in the grass, moaning. The deer then turned its antlers on the rest of the team. The animans failed to run, frozen in their tracks in shock.
     The deer charged at Pidge, who dove between its legs and scrambled over to Hunk's side, trying to wake the tiger. Instead of pursuing the ermine, the fayquuin turned on fox and myriad. Too late they tried to scramble out of the way, two sweeps of broad antlers sending them flying in opposite directions. Allura thought she heard a surprised, pained yelp, but from which she didn't know. Neither moved on impact. Then it turned on her.
     It stood no more than fifty yards from her, glaring from under heavy brows with dark eyes. She thought she could see blood staining several prongs on its horns. For all she knew, Keith and Lance were dead, and Hunk soon to join them. Something wouldn't let her run.
     Allura had never known anything but the life of a princess until the boys arrived and she took on the responsibilities of pilot of Blue Lion. It had awakened something in her... something powerful. Now, standing before this beast, she felt it again, stronger now, and felt a deep growl growing in her throat.
     "I am a lioness.... The Hunt is my heritage... my blood!" The deer charged and she launched herself at it with a roar borne of a thousand years of leonine strength and royal power. As it lowered its head to repeat the same trick it had played on her two friends, she leapt. The deer honked in surprise as the princess landed between its antlers and continued down its neck.
      It reared, trying to throw her light weight, but her claws sunk deep into its flesh as she slid around its neck. It had given her the opening her instincts told her she needed. Allura found herself on the shaggy underside of the deer's neck, feeling its front legs scraping at her back in an attempt to scratch her off. Without hesitation she sank her fangs into the flesh just under its jaw, feeling it give easily. The strength was there, if never before exerted, and she heard cartilage and bone popping. The buck trumpeted again, this time a wet sound, and stumbled to the ground. She let go in time to avoid having her neck broken in the fall.
     Now she understood. She knew why the boys reveled in the hunt. The fresh blood was sweet on her tongue, and she felt a wild lioness instead of a pampered princess. Her father had known the Hunt, but she had always been barred from it. But why? The lioness is the hunter. Her friends hadn't been wary of her on a hunt, they'd been wary of her on a hunt of the great Arusan deer. But, unlike them, the fayquuin were her natural prey and she was equipped to deal with them.
     The buck was gasping, unable to fully regain its feet, but not dying right away. This was wrong. The kill should have been quick, the pain over quickly. She walked over to the weak buck and grasped the heavy rack. It was a struggle to get a good grip, but once she did... She used all the strength in her body to twist the head of the deer around, knocking herself to the ground in the process. The antlers landed heavily across her chest, but she heard the popping of separating vertebrae, and the last, soft gasp of the buck.
     She crawled out from under the horns and saw Pidge helping a dazed Hunk to his feet. She turned to look where Keith and Lance lay. Neither had moved from where they had fallen, neither made a sound. Torn for a moment, she turned and went to Lance's side. She could see blood on his clothes.
     The antler prongs had torn several long gouges across his ribs, but none seemed to have punctured into his chest. At the least he was breathing normally. What worried her most was the dark patch in his hair. It could just be another scrape, or it could be something more serious even though nothing was really visible from the outside. A look at Pidge was all it took to communicate the need, and he was off at top speed to the castle to get help.
     Allura then turned to Keith. He, too, bore the marks of the attack, and didn't seem any worse than Lance. Still, he was lighter and more fine-boned than the fox... the damage could all be internal. Hunk, too. The tiger was semi-upright, but holding his ribs...

     "Fine, fine and fine. Although maybe now they've had enough sense knocked into them to stop going out on these wild excursions!" Dr. Gorma snorted to himself as he took off his stethoscope, having finished looking over Hunk. Keith and Lance had finally come around and were listening to Pidge recount the end of the hunt, the little ermine occasionally disrupted by Keith swatting at the bright insects the concussion caused to dance around his head. Still, the way he described it... Allura standing triumphant over the buck, her hair wild and half-undone, eyes glowing, lips shining red with blood... a lioness to make the Mother-spirit of Arus proud.
     Coran and Nanny, meanwhile, were having a mild competition. Each was vying to see who could scream louder at the princess. It was nothing she hadn't heard before... she could have been killed... the boys were a HORRIBLE influence on her... she's supposed to be a princess not a warrior...
     She stood, silencing them with a gracefully raised hand. Licking her lips, she could still taste a hint of blood on them.
     "They did not invite me, I asked to go. I know that I am a princess, and that my duties to Arus come first, but I'm also... We... I know we're not like the Terrans... Animans were created from animals; they didn't adopt the form through magic like our ancestors did to protect themselves... So I always thought that we were less... Lance is a fox through and through, Hunk's a tiger, Keith's a... whatever. But they understand their animal sides, and they revel in it. I'd never seen anything like that until they came here. Able to rely on pure instinct and communicate a world of feeling with the twitch of a tail or ear and a few small sounds...
     "You should have seen them out there, Coran. There was no forethought, only instinct and action. So different from when we're in battle. Out there in the forest they were just..."
     "Vild animals?" Nanny harumphed.
     "Yes. Wild. Wild and simple and free. And for a few moments, I was, too. My father hunted, you know that. Now I know I can use my claws and teeth, too."
     "Princess, it's inappropriate..."
     "Keith says that on Earth, lionesses do all the hunting..." Allura mused, more to herself than her elders.
     "Yes, well, Commander Keith also says that duct tape solves everything..." Coran sniffed, "and that's landed him in the infirmary how many times?"
     "I know you're only concerned about my safety. But you can't protect me forever, I need to be able to do that myself," she sighed, looking at her claws, extending and retracting them, "What good are they if I never learn to use them?"
     It was a circular argument, and her advisors gave up, as they tended to in the long run when she got into such a mindset. Besides, with the outcome of this excursion, both figured it would be quite some time before the boys decided another hunt was in order...

     A week later, Allura found herself on the highest balcony in the castle, overlooking the forest. Her mind was on her parents, remembering the way they were. Had her mother gone hunting with her father? She couldn't quite remember, but he had a feeling she had.
     "Hey, Princess!" She turned at Pidge's bright chirp, "We got something for ya!" He sprinted off without waiting to see if she was following.
     "Oh! Pidge, slow down!" Allura tripped after him, trying to keep from stepping on the hems of her gown. She'd managed to placate her elders by dressing more like a "girl" for a while, even though she had gotten used to less frilly things, especially the various colored denim jeans she'd acquired through Lance and Keith, which caused quite a shouting match, but proved better for riding than her usual pants.
     She made it to the lounge only by hitching up her skirts to her knees and running on her toes, silently cursing the abnormally fluffy gown Nanny had laid out for her. As much as she loved powder blue and pink... Not to mention the sheer weight of all the crinoline! Stopping to catch her breath, she saw Pidge say something to Keith, who stood at the door with his hands behind his back. He looked up at her with sparkling eyes and a mischievous smile.
     "There's our princess!" Keith gave her a quick, dipping bow, a friendly gesture rather than one of respect. He rocked back on his heels, and then cleared his throat, "Since you... Well, you did a REALLY good... You're a really good hunter... huntress... aaaaaand... we figured that since it was your catch... your first..." He kicked the lounge door. It slid open and Lance and Hunk stumbled out with something in their arms, something familiar, "We thought you should have this."
     They'd had the head of the fayquuin buck mounted on a cherry base. It looked as if it was still alive, the eyes glowing with challenge. Allura didn't quite know what to say. Hunk stroked one of the antlers.
     "Nice rack you got, Princess!" He realized what he had said a second after it left his mouth and his ears blushed. The others had to struggle to muffle there laughter, "What I meant was..."
     "I know what you meant, Hunk. It's okay." She smiled at the tiger, stifling a giggle.
     "Twenty-five points in any event!" Lance whistled, "Biggest we've ever brought down was a sixteen. I don't know what possessed us to go after this mother."
     "If I remember right," Keith purred, "SOMEONE figured we'd have venison steak for MONTHS if we got a BIG one..." He sidestepped a kick from Lance.
     "I'm still a little surprised you wanted to go with us. I thought you were against killing," Pidge questioned.
     "I had my reasons, and... If you had just been going out to kill for fun, I would have tried to stop you, but since you eat what you catch..."
     "Well, we won't need to catch anything for a while, thanks to you!" Hunk beamed.
     "Speak for yourself!" Pidge snapped, "I'm going fishing tomorrow."
     "Fffft. The only thing I'm gonna catch tomorrow is a few zees, peace withstanding," Keith snorted with a toss of his black mane.
     "Commander Keith Kogane, professional doorstop!" Lance laughed, knowing better than anyone did of his best friend's proficiency in the art and physics of sleeping. A one-hundred-and-twenty-five pound weight in the act of sleep converts instantly to a forty-ton limp rag that is physically impossible to carry due to a high flop-factor. Keith shot back without missing a beat.
     "At least *I* never slept through an earthquake!"
     "No, but you slept through a hurricane!"
     "Did not!"
     "Did too!"
     Allura leaned back against the wall and watched the two friends bicker as only they could. Despite the fluff and frills around her neck, for the first time, she really felt like one of the boys.